The tenth morning over the Nine Continents rose into a dry, parched gray sky.
Across five million square miles of mortal farmland, the morning dew had evaporated before it could even touch the grass. Tender shoots of winter spirit-wheat in fifty thousand villages turned pale and brittle, their leaves curling inward as the rich dark earth cracked into dry dust.
High above the four sacred peaks, the [Four-Symbol Mountain-Sealing Spirit Drain Array] hummed with a deafening, metallic vibration that made the clouds tremble.
A ten-foot-thick golden energy dome enveloped Supreme Sword Mountain, glowing with the stolen spiritual vitality of all four mountain Spirit Veins and the surrounding plains. Ninety-five percent of the public ambient Spirit Qi of the Nine Continents was being violently sucked into the dome like water down an open drain.
Standing on the high marble parapet inside the golden dome, Supreme Sword Sect Master Jian Jue , at Rank 5 Peak, looked down at the wilting valleys below with bloodshot, spiteful eyes.
Beside him stood Jade Lotus Sect Master Lian Hua , holding Rank 5 Peak, Thunder-Clap Sect Master Lei Zhen. Holding Rank 5 Peak, alongside the Myriad Pill Sect Deputy Master , at Rank 5 High. Who had fled to Supreme Sword Peak during the night via an underground teleportation formation so all four leaders could huddle inside the primary array core together.
